Wheeling, W. Va. – In 2020, the Wheeling Women's Golf team had an impressive showing at the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championships. As a team, they placed third overall at the event and had three different players earn All-MEC Honors.
Two of those All-MEC Honorees are back this season and ready to provide their veteran leadership to the team. Junior Emily Holzopfel (Rayland, OH./Buckeye Local) earned All-MEC First Team Honors last season and tied for third overall at the event. She had a little bit of a rough start to the championship event, posting an 88 in the first round, but bounced back with one of only two sub-80 scores during the second day of the event. It was the second All-MEC honor of Holzopfel's career and her first appearance on the First Team.
The other honoree for the Women's Golf team at last year's event was sophomore Zoila Herrera (Miami, FL./Coral Graves), who also earned All-MEC First Team Honors. Herrera was able to start the event strong with an 83 and finished the second day with an 86 to earn the first All-MEC honors of her career. As a team, Wheeling scored a 689 and finished just 16 strokes off the pace of the MEC Champions, The University of Charleston.
Also returning to this year's team are junior Kylee Tolliver (Reedsville, OH./Eastern) and senior Olivia Zampedro (Mentor, OH./Lake Catholic). Both competed in last year's MEC Championships as well but just missed the All-MEC Honors mark scoring 188 and 182 respectively. Freshman Nicole Lincicome is the newcomer to this year's team, and she has a lot of leadership to look up to in her first year in the MEC.
Last season was a weird year for everyone, and the Women's Golf team was no exception. They had to battle the elements throughout the spring and got to play three matches leading up to the MEC Championships. They started the season out with a bang, placing third at The University of Charleston Invitational out of 13 teams. They added a 14th-place finish at the NC4K Classic and an 11th-place finish at the Walsh University Invitational. They battled throughout the season and it helped give them the extra boost they needed to perform well in the MEC Championships.
In 2021, they start things off with a bang when they head to the California University of Pennsylvania Invitational, September 5th and sixth. Then, they meet last season's MEC Champions at The University of Charleston from September 13th to the 14th and head to Gannon the following week for the Michael Corbett Classic. All three matches lead up to the MEC Championships from October 4th through the 6th as Holzopfel and Herrera look to defend their All-MEC First Team titles.
As the MEC released their annual Women's Golf Preseason Poll, Wheeling once again found themselves in the third-place slot, receiving 46 votes. They finished just behind last year's MEC Champions, The University of Charleston, and West Virginia Wesleyan. However, once the season gets started, the Cardinals are hoping to leapfrog both teams and are hoping to bring back the program's third MEC Championship in 2021.
The Wheeling University Women's Golf team begins their season this weekend when they head to the California University of Pennsylvania Invitational from September 5th through the 6th.
